Ladybug's POV

"W-why isn't my purification working?" I stutter.

My dark blue hair blows in the wind as I stand upon the Eiffel Tower. I'm standing in front of my two partners, who I just found out are vampires. No problem, I can just cure them like I do to every other akuma, right?

Wrong.

Adrien takes a step back, and then another. "It always works on Hawkmoth's akumas, so why isn't it working on us?"

I look over at Luka, terrified. I can see his wheels turning in his head as he tries to come to a conclusion. His blue eyes, dart from Adrien, to me, then to his own hands. Suddenly his eyes open wide, and he looks back up at us.

"Do you think it's because we're not akumatized? Maybe your lucky charm can only cure villains, and not actual vampires." Luka asks with his hand on his chin.

I turn my body and face him. "So does that mean... you guys are permanently vampires?"

Permanent. The word is painful to hear. The mere thought just sends a stinging ice cold shiver down my spine. The idea that no matter what we do, no matter how hard we try, it's forever set and stone. They will have to suck blood, attack humans, and live like this forever. All because of one mistake.

I sigh. "Tikki, spots off."

A wave of pink light flashes up my body, and I'm back in my normal school clothes. Tikki appears in the air, and slowly falls into my hands. I look at her and I feel tears prick my eyes. I collapse against the hard metal beams of the iron tower. I cup the little kwamii in my hands as I quietly sob. Luka and Adrien both freeze, but then slowly walk over to me. The boys sit on their knees and they swallow me in a group hug. I chuckle and wipe the tears off my cheeks.

"You guys are so awkward!" I say, smiling through the tears.

Adrien laughs and Luka smirks while rolling his eyes.

"Man, so-rry, I didn't mean to be awkward after I just found out I'm going to have to live my whole life drinking blood," Adrien says sarcastically, smiling.

I look at him with teary filled eyes and hug the blonde with tight arms. I bury my face into his shoulder. My tears slowly drip off from my cheeks onto his shirt, leaving dark wet puddles remaining. I grab fist fulls of his shirt and tightly squeeze, and then release in sobs.

"Are you sure you'll be okay? You went the whole day today thinking this was just a fun adventure!" I cry. "You thought would be a normal human by the end of the day. But, thanks to my failure-"

"No," Adrien interrupts. "This is not you're fault."

Luka looks toward the shining city of Paris. "It's mine, not yours. You're not a failure because you powers couldn't cure my mistakes. Your powers are your powers. You can't control what you can cure and what you can't."

I wipe the tears falling down from my eyes. "You're right."

I stand up and brush the dust off my jeans. I take my ribbons out of my hair, and let my dark locks flow in the chilling wind. I put my hair tie in my mouth and tie my hair up in a pony tail. I brush my bangs behind my ears, and tighten my pony tail. I twirl around and face the boys. I grasp my hands into a fist and smile.

"We'll be fine. We always have been, and we always will," I say with sparkles shinning in my eyes.

Luka smirks and Adrien nods.

He glances at his watch, and gives it a double take. "Shit, I have a model shoot in 20. I have to dash, y'all. Should we meet at my place tonight so we can talk more?"

I shake my head. "Don't lie to yourself Adrien, we all know your dad. Let's meet at my place. Enter through my balcony door. Anyways, I have to get back home and help my mom with the bakery. See y'all tonight!" I say, transforming.

I throw my yo-yo across half of Paris, and tug it. I look back, smile, and jump. I swing down from the tower, and fling through the streets feeling the wind dry my tears.

Adrien's POV

I laugh. "Wow, that was a roller coaster."

"Look at her, swinging through the city as if she didn't just have a mental break down," Luka says, smiling.

I nod. "Yeah. She's cute."

Silence.

Luka chokes and jumps back. "E-EXCUSE ME?"

I turn to face him, confused. "What do you mean?"

"I-I thought you didn't like her!" He frantically stutters.

Why is he suddenly acting all strange?

"I don't? She's just a really good friend!" I say chuckling.

Luka shoots me a death glare.

I roll my eyes and turn away. "What? Dude, she's just really cute, talented, I love when she talks to me, and my favorite part of the day is when we're together!"

Suddenly I feel heat rise up in my cheeks. My face turns bright red as I whip my head around to look at Luka. My mouth quivers.

"No..." I whisper.

Luka sighs and nods his head.

My eyes grow wide and I turn around to face the city. "Fuck."

Plagg flies near my head, and snickers.

"Looks like blondie gots a crush~" he says with a teasing tone.

I throw my hands in the air. "I always thought Marinette was just a friend! Besides, I thought she liked you!"

Luka's eyes sparkle and he gasps. "Really?!"

I pout my face. "Actually, never mind. So, I guess you like her too, huh?"

He rolls his eyes and crosses his arms. "Yeah, I have been for a while."

I look at the Paris skyline, and frown. Silence forms and becomes as thick as mud. I can feel the tension rising.

"Well Luka, we can agree on many things, but not this," I say, keeping focus on the city.

"Agreed."

~

By the time the photoshoot ends, its already 8pm. I walk out the slick glass doors, and the wind chill hits me in the face. The streetlights light up the dark city as I walk away from the building. I pull up the scarf my dad made me and push through the wind. I squint my eyes through the dark and recognize my car driving up to pick me up. As soon as my bodyguard reaches me, I quickly open the heavy car door and slide into the leather seats. I sigh from relief as the heat from the car fills my body. The car lights quickly turn off and I'm quickly swallowed in darkness again. I groan and look out the window.

As I ride home with my bodyguard, the conversation I had with Luka runs through my head over and over again. I shouldn't have said those things. I don't have many friends, so why did I lash out on him like that? As soon as I make a decision to apologize, I feel jealousy rise in my heart and quickly decide not to. I shake my head in conflict and close my eyes. This car ride could possibly not take any slower.

As soon as I reach my father's mansion, I wave to Natalie and run to my bedroom. I slam the door and lean against it. Plagg flies out of my shirt pocket and yawns.

"Man kid, you have some major angst tonight, huh? You know what would help that? Some nice, chewy camembert..." Plagg teases.

I roll my eyes at him. "Come on Plagg, I don't have time to waste. I have to get to Marinette's house before Luka!"

Plagg just laughs. "Oooh, some stereotypical teen drama? What is it now, a love triangle?"

I ignore him, and throw my bag on my bed.

"Let me guess: Luka, the cool-headed goth punk emo kid. You, the flirty rich kid who has it all. You know, in the movies, it's always the bad boy that get's the girl," Plagg explains.

"I hope not."

"Okay, crazy idea here," the kwamii says, his mouth filled with cheese. "What if we let the girl have her own choice in what she wants? Almost as if she's not an object?"

I cross my arms and face the flying cat. "I'm not treating her like an object! I'm just giving her several, several good reasons why she should pick me over Luka. Step number one is to get to her place before Luka himself. And, lucky you, step one involves you."

Plagg stops eating his cheese and looks at me annoyed. "I hate teenager hormones."

I ignore him and throw my hand in the air. "Plagg, claws out!"

I unlock the windows and jump out of my prison. Using my baton, I fly across the peaceful city in the black of the night. When I smell the smell of cookies and fresh-baked bread, I know I'm there. I land on her balcony and knock two knocks to enter. She quietly lets me in, and I tip-toe down the ladder.

"Why are we being so quiet?" I ask.

She points to the floor. "My parents are working late tonight, right below us. We need to be super quiet."

I nod quietly, and de-transform. She makes way to her bed, and pats a spot right next to her. I quietly sit at the edge of the bed and before we even begin to talk, both of our phones buzz. We both glance, and read the text. It's from Luka. He's not going to be able to make it. He feels nauseous and doesn't want to lash out on Marintette, like he did to me.

I put my phone down. "He must be getting hungry again."

She nods and squeezes her pillow. "It must be hard, knowing blood isn't easy to come by."

"Yeah, I haven't even tried eating yet," I say, rubbing the back of my head.

She shoots up from her bed and stares at me dead in the eyes. "Adrien, are you kidding me?!"

I nervously laugh. "Uh, y-yeah? What's wrong with that?"

"Even though you're a vampire now, that does not mean you get to skip out on meals completely!" she yells.

"Marinette?" Her mom calls from downstairs. "Is everything okay?"

Marinette sighs and shoots me a death glare. "Yeah, I'm fine! I'm calling my friends, but I'll hang up now. Do you think I could have a late-night snack before I go to bed?"

"Sure honey, help yourself!" her mom calls back.

Mari holds up one finger to me, and dashes downstairs.

Plagg flies out of my pocket. "Great, so we didn't have to rush out of your house like you thought. I could have finished my camembert!"

Tikki flies out of Mari's purse on the night table to greet Plagg. "Wait, why were y'all in such a rush to get here?"

"Well sugar cube, blondie here has a little crush," Plagg says with a flirty tone.

"Plagg!" I whine.

Tikki just giggles. "It was bound to happen. That's just how the universe runs, the cat miraculous and ladybug miraculous always end up with each other. I think it's so cute!"

"Kinda like me and you, sugar cube?" Plagg asks, slowly flying closer to Tikki.

"Ew, never in your dreams! You smell to much like stinky camembert!"

Plagg whines, but Tikki quickly looks back at me.

"Just look around!" She explains, flying around Marinette's room. "She used to have a huge, huge crush on you! She use to just stammer when talking to you, it was adorable!"

My eyes glance from one of my posters, then to another. This girl has picture frames of me on her desk. I feel my heart beat race and my cheeks turn red, but the feeling quickly disappears when I remember Tikki's words: "used to."

"Why did she lose feelings for me?" I ask urgently.

Tikki starts to explain. "Oh! Well -"

"Shh!" Plagg interrupts. "The kid doesn't know!"

Tikki looks back at me with a face of realization, and nods.

I throw my hands in the air. "W-what?! No, you guys have to tell me!"

"Tell you what?" Marinette asks, coming back up the stairs.

"Gah! U-uh, nothing! Why did you go downstairs?" I ask, changing the subject.

"This..." she says, showing off three cookies on a plate, "... is for you!"

I gasp in pure delight. "Yes! I freaking love the Dupain-Cheng cookies! You're the best, Marinette!"

I jump up from the bed to get one. I grab a cookie and eat it as fast as I can. I close my mouth and enjoy the taste, but then I freeze. What do I mean enjoy the taste? This tastes horrid. My eyes slowly rise and I take a step back, than another.

Marinette looks confused, but then gasps and points to a corner of her room. "Trash can, right there!"

I recklessly sprint across her bedroom and puke into the trash can. After about a minute or so, I finish and ball up in the corner, embarrassed beyond words.

Marinette smiles and shakes her head. "Here, I'll go get you water."

She leaves and comes right back up with a glass of water. I grab the cup and tremble drinking the water.

"I'm so, so sorry Marinette." I whisper.

She sits down on the floor and leans against me. "Don't worry about it, kitty. I should have seen this coming, I mean come on! What was I thinking, after knowing what happened with Luka?"

I sigh. "You we're right about one thing though, I am super hungry."

"There's only one thing left then," she says pulling her hair to one side of her shoulders.

I tilt my head in confusion, but then it hits me. "No.... no, no, no. I cannot drink your blood. What if I lose myself like Luka?!"

Mari smiles. "You won't, I trust you. I would much rather you drink my blood now, when you're sane, then when you snap out of starvation and almost kill me."

I sigh. She's got a point. I look around at her peaceful room. It's dark, except for a warm lamp on in the corner. The pink walls look like a warm dark red in this lighting. The many pictures of me she still has up on her wall litter the room. I realize I've only been at her place a few times.

"Fine," I say, hesitantly. "W-what do I do?"

She laughs and rolls her eyes at me. "What do you mean, 'what do I do?!' You're a vampire, Adrien! You should know what to do!"

I nod, and face her on my knees. She sits cross-legged, and takes a deep breath. I gently place my hands on her neck, and open my mouth. I slowly sink my vangs into her skin. I hear her quietly gasp and wince, but she doesn't move. I close my eyes and focus. If I focus on her, I'll feel like a monster, so I focus on my breathing instead. I continue to drink her blood until I'm full. Finished, I carefully pull away, and wipe the blood dripping off my chin.

She tilts her head and smiles. "Look at you, your first bite. How was it?"

I laugh and push her away. "What type of question was that?!"

She giggles too, but we both freeze when we hear her mom coming up the stairs. She quickly looks at me in fear, and points to the other side of the room. I nod, and we quietly tip-toe to the bed. She gets in first, and I slide in after. She covers me up with the blanket, so her mom isn't able to see me, then closes her eyes.

"Marinette? I thought you were in be-" she freezes, after seeing Marinette fast asleep. "Aw, my little angel tucked in tight. Sleep well, Marinette."

After Mari's mom turns off the lamp and walks away, we wait a little bit to be safe. After awhile, I peak over the sheets.

I quietly rustle the sheets. "Marine-"

She turns around, dead asleep. She reaches out and pulls me close, like a teddy-bear. I laugh and pull her close too. Maybe I could spend the night here...